Bracing for defeat? Congress dubs EVM as 'Election voting machine' for BJP after EC's VVPAT snub

1.What is Congress claim

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2.Poll body has no logistical reason to reject demand, says Singhvi

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Addressing a press conference, Singhvi said though the Congress or any other party had not received any reply or order from the EC on their complaints, the poll body has no logistical reason to reject the demand as it entails no extra time or burden on it.

"Has the Model Code of Conduct become 'Modi's campaign code' and EVMs 'electronic victory machines' for the BJP. Has the Election Commission become 'Enfeebled Commission' or is it 'Eradicated Commission' or 'Eliminated Commission' as it has succumbed to the pressure of PM and Amit Shah," he claimed.

The Congress leader also alleged that the EC had adopted "discriminatory" standards, "one for the aam aadmi (common man) and the other for two people, who are above the law -- the prime minister and Amit Shah".

Questioning what could be the possible ground for rejection of the opposition's demand, Singhvi said they have only asked for random checking of VVPATs at the beginning of counting so that a sample can be checked.

Asked whether the Congress will move court against the EC's decision, Singhvi asked, "Why should we?" He indicated that there was no enough time left to move the court. "We are appealing to the court of people. We have fought a clean battle. There is no time to go anywhere," he said, adding that the EC's decision had given rise to suspicion about its functioning.

Singhvi said the demand made by the opposition was only to reinforce the credibility of EVMs and that of the EC. 
 

3.EC sticks to its plans

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The Election Commission is learnt to have stuck to its plan of counting the paper trail machines slips at the end of counts and not in the beginning as demanded by opposition parties.

It is also learnt to have decided to count postal ballots simultaneously with Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) count due to the "sheer size" of the ballots received this time from service voters.

Till now, the postal ballots were counted in the beginning followed by votes polled in voting machines.

4.Yechury slams EC

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CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday said the Election Commission's rejection of the Opposition demand to first count the VVPAT slips went against the "spirit" of a Supreme Court order on the devices.
Yechury's reaction comes after the commission is learnt to have stuck to its plan to count the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) slips in the end and not in the beginning as demanded by the Opposition.

 

"This goes against the spirit of the Supreme Court Order on VVPATs delivered before polling began," Yechury tweeted.

"If the process has been so long drawn for the sake of integrity of the electoral process, why is (the) EC not adhering to the basic principle of testing the sample first?" the Left leader asked.